India successfully conducted an interceptor missile test off the Odisha coast Sunday night, achieving a major milestone in developing a two-layer Ballistic Missile Defence system, defence sources said.

The interceptor was launched from Abdul Kalam Island, earlier known as Wheeler Island of the Integrated Test Range (ITR), at about 8.05 pm, the sources said.

This Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) mission is for engaging the targets in the exo-atmosphere region at an altitude above 50 km of the earth’s atmosphere, a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist said.

“Both the PDV interceptor and the target missile were successfully engaged,” DRDO sources said.

In an automated operation, radar-based detection and tracking system detected and tracked the enemy’s ballistic missile.

The computer network with the help of data received from radars predicted the trajectory of the incoming ballistic missile. The PDV that was kept fully ready took off once the computer system gave the command for lift-off.

The interceptor guided by high-accuracy Inertial Navigation System (INS) supported by a Redundant Micro Navigation System moved towards the estimated point of the interception, the sources said.

Once the missile crossed the atmosphere, the Heat Shield ejected and the IR Seeker dome opened to look at the target location as designated by the mission computer.

With the help of Inertial Guidance and IR Seeker the missile moved for interception.

All events were monitored in real-time by the Telemetry/Range Stations, at various other locations.

Interceptor was successfully test fired last from the same base on February 11, 2017.

Courtesy: ET

The late-night dark skies at Sriharikota lit up in bright orange hues as the PSLV-C42 lifted off and vanished into the thick black clouds, carrying two satellites from the United Kingdom – NovaSAR and S1-4 from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR here.

The lightest version of the PSLV, flying in its core-alone version without the six strap-on motors, the PSLV-C-42 rose into the skies at 10.08 p.m. Almost 18 minutes later, the two satellites were placed in the desired orbit by ISRO. This was the 12th such launch of a core-alone version of the PSLV by ISRO.

“This was a spectacular mission. We have placed the satellite in a very, very precise orbit,” R. Hutton, Mission Director, said.

The two satellites, owned by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) were placed in a circular orbit around the poles, 583 km from Earth. The commercial arm of ISRO, Antrix Corporation earned more than ₹220 crore on this launch.

The NovaSAR is a technology demonstration mission designed to test the capabilities of a new low cost S-band SAR platform. It will be used for ship detection and maritime monitoring and also flood monitoring, besides agricultural and forestry applications. The S1-4 will be used for environment monitoring, urban management, and tackling disasters.

“This unique mission is mainly for ‘ascending daytime node’ launch. This is the first time we have executed a different type of mission altogether,” K. Sivan, Chairman, ISRO said.

Outlining the road map for ISRO, Mr. Sivan said the next six months will see 18 missions – 10 satellite missions and 8 launch vehicle missions.

“We are almost going to have one launch every two weeks. Definitely the load on us is going to be huge,” he said.

Among the slew of launches scheduled over the next few months, the much-awaited and delayed, India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2 finally has a launch window.

“Chandrayaan-2 is planned for a window from January 3 to February 16, 2019 that we are targeting. It can happen anytime during that window. But we are aiming for the beginning of the window, January 3,” Mr. Sivan said.

“Right now with the status of the rocket, the GSLV Mk-3 M1, and the present status of the satellite, we are not expecting any more delay. At the same time tests are going on. If unexpected things happen, that may have some impact. But right now, we are not anticipating any delay.”

The other launches include the GSAT series that will provide bandwidth speeds of up to 100 Gbps per second, as part of the government’s Digital India efforts, he said.

The Cartosat and Risat satellites will also be launched within the next six months, Mr. Sivan said.

Courtesy: The Hindu

In June this year, US President Donald Trump announced that his country was going to establish a Space Force to fight in space alongside the military. What ensued was a raging debate on a possible space war, with analysts pointing out the necessity for countries to chalk out their respective space warfare strategies.

Sputnik spoke to retired Group Captain Ajay Lele, a senior fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), to understand the discourse better. Lele heads IDSA’s Centre on Strategic Technologies.

Sputnik: It is now being widely considered feasible to threaten a nation’s security through the use of space. What has triggered the recent debate on this issue?

Ajay Lele: The debate actually could be said to have begun with China doing an anti-satellite test during Jan 2007 and creating a lot of debris in space. Subsequently, China has been found carrying out some activities in space which are not harmful on the face of it but provide sufficient indication of their interest towards developing counter-space capabilities.

Russia is also giving the same indication. On the other hand, the US has a spaceplane called X-37b, which remained in space for many months, but the US is not ready to tell the purpose behind its mission.

Now in June 2018, Mr. Trump announced that the US would establish a Space Force, the sixth fighting arm for their defense establishment. All this is raising suspicion that major states are looking at space as the next playground for warfare.

Sputnik: For the last many decades, efforts were afoot to keep space out of the ambit of an arms race. Have those efforts eventually failed?

Ajay Lele: Not really, but any effort has a shelf life and developments in technologies are making old practices obsolete.

Sputnik: The speed with which satellite technology in aid of communication and surveillance has developed in the last three decades, enhancing strategic and operational transparency – could any disturbing development like a possible space warfare be detrimental to the technological advancements made till now?

Ajay Lele: No, space warfare is technologically challenging and as such technologies in the space domain have possible dual-use implications.

Sputnik: Paralyzing adversary networks is one area of concern in space warfare; how much risk does India have on this front especially from its neighbors? What should the country do to avoid such a situation?

Ajay Lele: For India, there could be a direct threat to its low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Such satellites could be destroyed by using a technology called KKV (kinetic kill vehicle) or by creating systems to malfunction by using cyber means or by using jamming technologies. As a first step, India needs to establish a space command.

Source: Sputnik News & Spacewar

The ISRO is developing a small rocket of not more than 100 tons that can send a 500 kg satellite into a 500 km orbit. The ISRO, which is earning around $40 million annually through launching small satellites of foreign customers, aims to increase its revenue manifold by using the baby rocket.

The small satellite launch vehicles (SSLV) will not require a mission control center to launch satellites into orbit; a personal computer would be more than enough for this purpose, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Wednesday.

“SSLV does not require mission control center to launch the satellite. It can be launched from some personal computer anywhere,” K. Sivan, chairman of the ISRO, said.

As over 6,200 small satellites are expected to be launched by different countries over the next decade, with a market value of around $30 billion (Euroconsult report 2017), the ISRO’s SSLV is conceptualized to tap into this potential market.

“Definitely, India should be able to attract more global customers in this segment. Besides, it will also allow ISRO to concentrate on their back job that is Research and Development as the private sector is being involved in the project,” Ajey Lele, a senior fellow at the Delhi-based Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), told Sputnik.

The ISRO is set to begin launching the small satellite launch vehicles from mid-2019. The SSLV is estimated to cost one-tenth of a normal Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which costs anywhere between $25 million to $75 million. The 100-ton SSLV will be assembled innovatively in only three days instead of the usual 60 days and by six people instead of 600.

“SSLV’s launches will commence sometime in mid-2019. We want to involve the private sector from the beginning and will be offering them development and launches,” K. Sivan, chairman of the ISRO, said while addressing a press conference to announce the 6th edition of the Bangalore Space Expo, 2018.

As the small rocket can be assembled in three days, the ISRO hopes to achieve 50-60 launches a year. The rocket, which is currently in the development phase, will be given to the industry for mass production.

“Antrix is looking at 50/60 launches SSLVs a year and in the next 10 years, we see a business potential of around $300 million annually,” Rakesh Sasibhushan, CMD Antrix – the commercial arm of the ISRO, said.

At present, spare capacity available on the missions meant for launching the national satellite is being utilized for launching satellites of other countries on a commercial basis through Antrix corporation limited. To date, the ISRO has successfully launched 237 foreign satellites, mainly very small ones, from 29 countries, using PSLV.

Source: Sputnik News

India will send a manned mission into space by 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Wednesday in a speech to the nation.

“India will send into space — a man or a woman — by 2022, before that if possible,” Modi said in a marathon address at the Red Fort in New Delhi for the country’s Independence Day.

The astronaut would be “carrying the national flag,” Modi said.

The conservative prime minister said that India would be only the fourth country — after Russia, the United States and China — to launch its own manned space mission.

Stepping up its rivalry with China, India has invested heavily in its space programme in the past decade.

It is aiming to send an unmanned mission to the moon in January 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation announced last week.

The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter will aim to put a craft with a rover onto the moon’s surface to collect data. Design changes to the craft forced the space body to push the launch back from this year.

Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008, orbited the moon and sent a probe to the surface which made a controlled crash landing.

India also launched an orbiter to Mars in 2013 which is still operational and in 2017 launched a record 104 satellites in one blast-off.

Courtesy: Spacewar

India on Thursday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile, from a test range off Odisha coast. Missile Interceptor Advanced Area Defence flight launched during a test run at Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha’s Balasore.

“The DRDO conducted the successful test of the Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Air Defence (AAD) at 1130 hours today from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha,” a defence ministry statement said.

Describing the trial as a success, it said, “The mission objectives were successfully met”.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated the Defence Research and Development on the successful flight test for further boosting the defence capabilities of the country.

“. @DRDO_India successfully tested Ballistic Missile Interceptor Advanced Air Defence at 11:30 hrs today from Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha & all mission objectives were accurately met. The missile is capable of destroying incoming hostile targets at altitude of 15 to 25 kms,” she tweeted.

The endo-atmospheric missile, capable of intercepting incoming targets at an altitude of 15 to 25 km was launched against multiple simulated targets of 1,500 km class ballistic missile, the release said.

One target among simultaneously incoming multiple targets was selected on real time, the weapon system radars tracked the target and the missile locked on to it and intercepted the target with a high degree of accuracy, it said.

The complete event, including the engagement and interception was tracked by a number of electro-optical tracking systems, radars and telemetry stations, the statement said.

The interceptor is a 7.5-metre long single stage solid rocket propelled guided missile equipped with a navigation system, a hi-tech computer and an electro-mechanical activator, sources said.

The interceptor missile had its own mobile launcher, secure data link for interception, independent tracking and homing capabilities and sophisticated radars, DRDO sources said.

Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa, witnessed the flight test along with other senior officials, the release said.

The interceptor, an advanced air defence missile which is yet to get a formal name, was positioned at launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range on Dr Abdul Kalam Island and roared on its trajectory to hit the target mid-air on sea surface, the sources said.

Developed as part of efforts to have a multi-layer ballistic missile defence system, it is capable of destroying incoming hostile ballistic missiles, they said.

“While the missile’s major health parameters, including its ‘kill’ effect, have already been validated in earlier tests, today’s test was to validate some improved features incorporated in it,” the sources added.

Courtesy: Rediff

NEW DELHI: India’s secretive nuclear missile tracking ship, which will become part of an elaborate missile shield being planned against attacks is successfully undergoing harbour trials and is set to be delivered by December, a top official in charge of the project has confirmed. The VC11184, a specialised Ocean Surveillance Ship being built for the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), is on its way to completion just over four years after it was ordered as part of the Modi government’s focus on creating a nuclear missile shield for the nation.

The next step will include sea trials by a joint team of the Indian Navy and the NTRO in which its specialised surveillance systems – three dome shaped antennas packed with sensors – will be extensively tested before the handing over. “We have as of now finished the basin trials. There were done alongside and were successful.

We expect to deliver the ship by December this year,” Rear Admiral LV Sarath Babu, Chairman & Managing Director of Hindustan Shipyard Limited told ET. The complex vessel, which will generate over 14 MW of power just to power up its tracking radars, will have multiple roles for India – from tracking enemy missiles to accurately giving data on tests that are routinely carried out of indigenous strategic missiles.

“The keel of the vessel was laid in June 2014 and we would have completed it in less than five years. It is a very complex vessel and we have set a new standard for building vessels of such class on time,” Rear Admiral Babu said. The 15000-tonne class vessel was initially constructed in a covered dry dock at the shipyard – the country’s largest -to keep roving satellites and spying attempts at bay. However, for the past several months, the vessel has been docked alongside and is now visible from the Vizag channel with its distinct shape. A large globe shaped radar placed on the aft gives it distinctive visibility.

The Rs 725 crore project is a showcase under the Make in India initiative, with high secrecy being maintained on details, including the capabilities and systems on board. The VC11184, which has not been given a formal ‘commissioning’ name yet, is one of the largest warships to be built at an Indian yard, weighing in at over 15,000 tonnes.

Courtesy: ET

NEW DELHI: Bit by bit, India is working towards making its national Capital more impregnable against military or 9/11-like terror attacks from aircraft, missiles and drones. The measures underway include getting a new missile shield to replace older air defence systems, reconfiguring the VIP no-fly zone and refining the protocol to shoot down rogue planes.

Sources say the defence acquisitions council (DAC), chaired by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has approved the “acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the acquisition of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System-II (NASAMS-II) worth around $1 billion from the US.

Simultaneously, as part of the overall Delhi Area Air Defence Plan, work is on to further realign the “VIP-89 area” over New Delhi, which includes Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament, North and South Blocks, as well as shorten the decision-making loop to shoot down planes that may have been hijacked or commandeered for use as “missiles against strategic targets”, say sources.

The NASAMS, armed with the three-dimensional Sentinel radars, short and medium-range missiles, launchers, fire-distribution centers and command-and-control units to quickly detect, track and shoot down multiple airborne threats, is part of the air defence network guarding Washington. It is also deployed in several NATO countries. Besides the US national capital region, Israeli cities and Moscow also have their own missile defence systems.

India’s move to acquire NASAMS comes even as DRDO is in the final stages of developing its two-tier ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield, which is designed to track and destroy nuclear missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth’s atmosphere.

“Once the Phase-I of the BMD system is operational, it will be deployed to protect cities like Delhi and Mumbai from long-range missiles with a 2,000-km strike range. The NASAMS, in turn, is geared towards intercepting cruise missiles, aircraft and drones,” said a source.

The defence ministry, however, has kept the $2 billion procurement of 24 MH-60 ‘Romeo’ helicopters, with their associated weapons, spares and training packages, from the US pending till the inaugural “two-plus-two” dialogue between the two countries here on September 6.

India wants to “assess the US response” on different issues, including its punitive sanctions regime under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that seeks to deter countries from buying Russian weapons or Iranian oil, before granting AoN to the helicopter project as well.

“The AoN for the helicopters, which are used to detect, track and hunt enemy submarines, has been deferred till September. Earlier also, it was not fielded in the DAC after US abruptly cancelled the two-plus-two dialogue (between Sitharaman and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj with their American counterparts, Jim Mattis and Mike Pompeo) slated for July,” said a source. Indian sources later explained that this was due to US’s upcoming engagement with North Korea.

The US is moving towards granting waiver to India from CAATSA but it’s not yet cast in stone. India wants to ink the Rs 39,000 crore deal for five top-tier S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems from Russia later this year without the threat of financial sanctions from US, as was earlier reported by TOI.

India has earmarked both the proposed procurement projects, the NASAMS as well as the naval helicopters, for government-to-government contracts through the US foreign military sales (FMS) programme.

The FMS route is considered “faster and cleaner” than the cumbersome global tender process, with the AoN followed by “letters of request and acceptance” being negotiated before inking of the final contract. The US, of course, is eager to bag more deals, having notched military sales worth $15 billion to India since 2007.

The Indian Navy, in turn, is desperate to acquire multi-role helicopters, armed with radars and sonars as well as missiles, torpedoes and depth charges, because it has virtually run out of them. The 140-warship force has just about a dozen old Sea King and 10 Kamov-28 anti-submarine warfare helicopters.

Admiral Sunil Lanba, in a lecture on Friday, in fact, said, “The Navy is staring at critical capability gaps with respect to minesweepers, integral multi-role and utility helicopters, and conventional submarines.” As part of the long-term “Make in India” projects, the Navy is looking to acquire 123 multi-role helicopters and 111 armed light utility choppers.

Courtesy: TOI

New Delhi: China today launched two satellites for Pakistan that, among other things, are meant to keep an eye on India. One of them — the PRSS-1 — is a remote sensing satellite built by China. The other — PakTES-1A – is Pakistan’s indigenously developed scientific experiment satellite. The two were launched this morning on Chinese rocket Long March-2C from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The remote-sensing PRSS-1 satellite can carry out day and night monitoring, and it has viewing capacity even in clouded conditions.

The satellite would be used for land and resources surveying, monitoring of natural disasters, agriculture research, urban construction and to provide remote sensing information for China’s “Belt and Road” mega-project. Scientists said it would also help Pakistan keep watch on India.

The launch of the satellites marks yet another instance of Pakistan’s space cooperation with China, its Number  One ally. In August 2011, China had launched PAKSAT-1R, a communication satellite. Pakistan, which already had five satellites in space, lacks heavy duty launchers and satellite fabrication facilities.

India is way ahead of Pakistan in space technology, with 43 operational satellites in space. India also has the radar imaging satellites with all-weather surveillance capability. India used images gathered from its satellites for the surgical strikes it carried out in 2016.

Three years ago, Pakistan opted out of India’s project for a “South Asia Satellite”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “gift” to SAARC countries  was an extension of his “Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas” ideology to India’s neighbourhood, where China is extending its influence.

After a planning meet for the satellite in June 2015, Islamabad opted out, suggesting it had its “own space programme”.

The Rs. 235-crore communication satellite — launched in May last year — caters to Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

The PRSS-1 is the first optical remote sensing satellite China sold to Pakistan. It is the 17th satellite developed by the China Academy of Space Technology for an overseas buyer.

Today’s launch is the 279th mission for the Long March rocket series. Long March-2C rockets are mainly used to send satellites into low Earth or Sun-synchronous orbits. It is also the first international commercial launch for a Long March-2C rocket in nearly two decades after it carried Motorola’s Iridium satellites into orbit in 1999.

Courtesy: MSN

The Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) – India’s indigenous navigation and positioning system – has confronted unforeseen challenges ahead of its commercial rollout slated for the next few months.

According to the ISRO, the seven-satellite constellation sends signals in frequency bands of L5 (1176.45 MHz) and S-band (2492.08 MHz). The S-band frequency is utilized by NavIC for navigation systems, which are also shared by communication systems like long-term evolution (LTE), Bluetooth and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi).

The study, published in Current Science, found that NavIC signals are affected by out-of-band interference due to Wi-Fi signals.

“These interfering signals present a threat to the NavIC receiver performance. To equip both the facilities (WiFi and NavIC) in future cell phones, it will be a challenge to mitigate such kind of radio frequency interference,” according to a study conducted by Dr. Shweta N Shah of the electronics engineering department at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, and Darshna D. Jagiwala.

In the experiment, the scientists found that a part of the S-band of NavIC systems overlaps the unlicensed band that is shared by other communication technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) bands.

In India, Wi-Fi signals are exempted from licensing in the frequency band ranging between 2400 and 2483.5 MHz. This means the usable part of any Wi-Fi system or channel in India must be contained within 2483.5 MHz.

“Residual or unintended signals normally go beyond this limit due to the basic characteristic of digital emissions. The NavIC signal is centered at 2492.08 MHz with a bandwidth of +/- 8.25 MHz. This means that the lower part of NavIC signal can get interference from residual/unintended signals of Wi-Fi systems.

“Also, the upper part of the NavIC signal goes beyond 2500 MHz and since the frequency band above 2500 MHz is used for other purposes, NavIC receivers can pick up signals (and receive interference) from such other systems operating above 2500 MHz,” explained Mr. Pawan Kumar Garg, a former wireless advisor to the Indian government, while speaking to India Science Wire.

The NavIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide positional information in the Indian region and 1,500 km around the Indian mainland.

The ISRO claimed that the NavIC is way more accurate than systems developed by its foreign competitors and would provide a standard positioning service for terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, vehicle tracking and fleet management, mobile phones, visual and voice navigation for drivers, with a position accuracy of five meters. GPS, on the other hand, has a position accuracy of 20-30 meters.

The constellation of the navigation satellite was completed earlier this year with the successful replacement of one of the satellites within the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1I (IRNSS-1I). This was the second attempt by ISRO to replace the faulty satellite since the first attempt was doomed due to the heat-shield failure of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in August last year.

Source: Sputnik News